Wednesday, October 30, 2013

CAIRO: Egyptian authorities on Wednesday detained senior Muslim Brotherhood figure Essam al-Erian, one of the last few leaders of the Islamist movement to have escaped a security crackdown, the interior ministry said.

Security forces arrested Erian, deputy leader of the Brotherhood\'s Freedom and Justice Party, in the early hours of Wednesday at an apartment in east Cairo where he had been in hiding.

Pictures of Erian circulating on social media, apparently taken during his arrest, showed him smiling and making a gesture symbolising the rejection of the military\'s ouster of president Mohamed Morsi in July.

Erian was moved to Tora prison, where much of the movement\'s leadership is being held, and public prosecutors have begun questioning him, the official MENA news agency reported.

The leader faces charges of inciting violence on several occasions.

The search for Erian had extended to eight provinces, according to a security official quoted by MENA.

Egypt\'s army-installed authorities launched a massive crackdown on Morsi\'s supporters in August, violently dispersing two protest camps in Cairo and making mass arrests.

More than 1,000 people have been killed since Morsi\'s ouster -- mainly his supporters -- and the authorities have detained some 2,000 Islamists, including most of the Muslim Brotherhood\'s leadership. News From: http://www.7StarNews.com